To the days when we will reunite little Vera with her father...

Little Vera was two and a half years old when her father went to prison. She is four and a half now. City and regional planner Tayfun Kahraman was arrested on April 26, 2022, due to the Gezi Park trial. There is not a single piece of evidence that he is guilty, yet he has been sentenced to 18 years in prison. Dr. Meriç Demir Kahraman, who is also a city and regional planner like her husband and is striving to make their voice heard by society, says, "The Gezi trial has been forgotten by the press. We cannot make our voices heard by the majority of society; it is as if we are speaking from behind a cold pane of glass."

On this beautiful Sunday morning, as the holiday approaches and spring blossoms cover every corner of Istanbul, Vera is waiting with longing behind the glass for the day her father will return.

On April 26, 2022, another child sent their father off to prison. Ege did not yet know the meaning of the word prison. He was 2 years old. Civil society activist Ali Hakan Altınay, who was tried without arrest until 2022 in the Gezi trial, was sentenced to 18 years and arrested on April 22, 2022. His mother, Hande Altınay, tried to find another word for their 2-year-old son Ege because she could not explain the concept of injustice to him.

"There was a mistake!" she said. "Your father will stay somewhere else until this mistake is resolved."

Hakan Altınay is an internationally respected academic. He is a graduate of Boğaziçi University's Department of Political Science. He studied Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo and political science at the New School. He continued his academic work at Yale University. He served as the director of the Open Society Institute in Turkey, which was established in 2001. His articles have been published in the Financial Times, the New York Times, and the Herald Tribune.

The article Hakan Altınay wrote for T24 broke my heart.

"The case I am being tried for is related to the Gezi events, but I did not participate in the Gezi events. I stated this repeatedly during the trial. I requested that evidence be presented. But the prosecutors and judges did not take me or my requests into account...

The Turkish judiciary has no hesitation in treating me unfairly or causing me suffering, but I have a concern about not treating anyone unfairly...

There are many competent and conscientious people among public officials. But the Turkish judiciary still treats us like insects. Moreover, it claims to do this 'In the Name of the Turkish Nation'."

Ali Hakan Altınay regained his freedom in September 2023, but the imprisonment of Tayfun Kahraman, Can Atalay, Çiğdem Mater, Osman Kavala, and Mine Özerden continues.

The injustice, described as a mistake to little Ege, continues.

Vera is paying the price for being able to play in Gezi Park by growing up without her father.

Silivri Prison, surrounded by barbed wire, where armed men stand guard, and where the sky cannot be seen due to block after block of walls and watchtowers!

As she grows up and asks questions about her father's imprisonment, will little Vera be able to protect herself from the intensity of this trauma? How will the concept of a "mistake" affect Ege and Vera throughout their lives?

And what about us?

While the Turkish people have told the authoritarian government, "You are making a mistake,"

While they have shown the world that an authoritarian regime can be interrupted by democratic elections,

While they have revealed that women can increase their power in political representation,

While they have embraced hope,

Let us not forget that a true holiday can only be experienced when innocent people held in prison unlawfully regain their freedom.

To the days when we will reunite little Vera with her father...

With my best wishes for a happy holiday...